The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-11-26

rod should shake itself against them that lift
it up: or as if the staff should lift up itself.
if 1t were not wood" lisa. x. 15.1
All this meaneth the subsection of
instrumentalities to the person who
employs them. The passive instru-
ment cannot lift itself against the Wig
orous proprietor who uses it. Cause
and effect cannot be wheeled about so
that the effect shall monopolize the
cause. The axe shall not boast itself
against him that heweth Herewith.
The saw shall not magnify itself against
him that shaketh it. Nor the rod shake
itself against them that lift it up nor
the staff lift up itself as if it were not
wood, but something mightier than he
who would use it. S1ch is the thought
of the text. 1t reads like sharp,
choice bit of irony. But it is not irony,
because the meaning accords with the
words; and we shall have to call the
text a sober truth under various COM
parsons.
Who, therefore, was it who was like
an axe, Boosting itself against him that
heweth Herewith ? And who was like
a saw that magnifeth itself against
him that shaketh it? Or like rod that
should shake itself against them that
lift it upP Or like staff that lifteth
up itself as if it were not wood ? By
much study we discover that it was an
Assyrian king by the name of Sennache-
rib. He reigned over Assyria about
eight years in the days of Hezekiah.
He was a great monarch. Many ma
lions paid him tribute. His predeces-
sor, Shalmaneser, had carried away the
ten tribes of Israel, called the ''Lost
Ten Tribes" into perpetual captivity.
The kingdom of Judah also paid him
tribute; and this made Sennacherib
all the more insolent. And when Heze-
kiah refused the tribute, Sennacherib
invaded Judah with great army. He
took all the small towns and fenced
cities, and threatened Jerusalem. Heze-
kiah then yielded to the necessity and
promised to pay Sennacherib whatever
he demanded. And the king required
800 talents of silver, and thirty talents
of gold. Hezekiah paid the amount.
1t was distressing to his little nation.
1t was all that the public treasury con-
tanned. 1t took the last shekel. And
then to complete the amount Hezekiah
had to peel off the gold from the pillars,
and from the very doors of Solomon's
temple.
Well, Sennacherib took the silver and
gold; but he took it in treachery.
For he at once broke faith with Heze-
kiah and laid siege with an immense
army to Jerusalem. He demanded sur
render, and threatened to carry away
into captivity all the people of the
land, even as his predecessor had car
ried away the ten lost tribes Of Israel.
And moreover, he was aggravating and
insolent in his messages. He boosted
of what he had done, and of what he
could do. He warned the Jews not to
trust in Egypt, and not to trust in the
God of the Hebrews. And he wanted
to know what gods of any nation had
saved its people from his hands. So
Sennacherib defied the armies of Judah
and the God of the Jews.
In this dilemma, King Hezekiah had
recourse to the prophet Isaiah. And
Isaiah's predictions gave the king of
Judah great comfort. Isaiah claimed
that the Lord told him that the king of
Assyria should mot come into the city,
nor shoot an arrow there, nor come be-
fore it with shields, nor cast bank
against it; but by the way that he
came, by the same shall he return, and
shall not come into this city, saith the
Lord" lisa. xxxvii. 33-37.) And it
seems that plague smote 1S5, 900 of the
Assyrian army that night, so that they
were all dead men. $50 Sennache-
rib, king of Assyria, departed and went
and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh."
Well, it was in the midst of these
distressing national calamities that
Isaiah wrote the words of our text to
comfort Hezekiah the king of Judah
wrote these among many other things.
And the words are both rebuke of
the arrogant Assyrian monarch, and a
wise philosophy for those in trouble,
who should still trust in the Lord Jeho-
yah and judge. "Shall the axe boast
itself against him that heweth there
with2 Or shall the saw magnify itself
against him that shaketh it? AS If
the rod should shake itself against them
that lift it up; or as if the staff should
lift up itself, as if it were not wood. {"
Here are the figures of an axe, a saw, a
rod, and staff. These are all instru-
mentalities to certain ends. We may
use an axe and saw to build. A rod
is for correction, and staff for sup
port and comfort and safety. And
however fine we may spin out the sig
niicance of the figures, the sense is up
permOst every time that the instrument
tally shall not boast itself against the
sovereignty that uses il. Isaiah ap-
piled this philosophy to the invasion by